The Peterson Cos. announces plans for a new office building at National Harbor

The Peterson Cos. plans to build a new 140,000-square-foot office building at National Harbor in Maryland. The news, announced to a group of office brokers from Washington, D.C, Maryland and Virginia late last week, comes on the heels of a decision by Walt Disney Co. to not move forward with a 500-room hotel at the mixed-use development, located along the Potomac River waterfront in Maryland.

The Peterson Cos., based in Fairfax, owns and manages National Harbor. It’s already home to six hotels, including its anchor, the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. In addition, the project offers 229,654 square feet of Class A office space, 423 condos in three buildings and various retail and dining establishments.

Since Disney announced on Nov. 25 that it would not proceed with building on 11 acres that it purchased for $11 million in 2009, there has been speculation on what would happen to that property.
The Peterson Cos. does not have a lead tenant for its new building, but company officials said, before beginning construction, they hope to land one that needs 40,000 to 50,000 square feet. National Harbor is located just across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Prince Georges County, Md.,and has attracted office tenants from the Northern Virginia submarkets of Alexandria and Crystal City.